This wiki will explore what is meant by the term 'work' as a word that can be moulded to fit different scenarios for example work meaning productivity or a project scope. We will go on to outline the benefits of working as a group and identify, analyse and contrast this with working as a 'team'. One theory highlighted as highly applicable to this topic scope was that of Taylor's Scientific Management Theory we will outline and discuss his 4 principles for Scientific Management. The Hawthorne Effect being another highly valuable resources; identifying how the physical conditions of the workplace effected the two groups productivity. Finally, group development overtime is analysed; looking at how and why small groups advance over time, using Tuckman's (1965) 4 linear stages for understanding why this changes take place over time.
What is work?
The term 'work' can have many different definitions and can relate to many different things. Work can mean to be productive at something, it relates to be employed but can also relate to getting paid for doing something. The Business Dictionary (2016) defines work as "the entire scope of a project encompassing all people, equipment, material, and other goods and services required to fulfil the contractor's obligations under a contract" or simply " a job, something done to earn money".
Benefits of working as a group
Working in groups or as a team is a core management skill. Working with people that have the same interest and aiming for the same outcome has many different benefits. Those benefits include the building of trust amongst all group members, learning to deal with conflicts that arise while working as a group and it lets members build on the talents of their teammates. (Sandler Training, 2015)
Group vs team
A team is a group, but a group is not necessarily a team.
A group is a collection of multiple persons.
A team is a collective of multiple persons with a shared goal. (What are groups and teams?, 2011)
Team work analysed
Generic typologies of team categories: (1) production, (2) service, (3) management, (4) project, (5) action and performing, and (6) advisory
Underlying dimensions of team categories: (1) work team differentiation, (2) external integration, (3) work cycles
Kozlowski et al (1999) focused on features to distinguish along a continuum—(1) task, (2) goals, (3) roles, (4) process emphasis, and (5) performance demands
Team composition is a factor in the effectiveness and efficiency of the performance of the group. The team composition factor comprises of: (1) team size, (2) demographic diversity, (3) personality and (4) cognitive ability.
(Kozlowski and Bell, 2012)
Taylor's Scientific Management theories
Taylor thought every employee/worker to be selfish ("economic animal") in the sense that he/she is always looking for the optimal balance between payment and effort/labour and with that maximising its income by reaching the limit of his/her physical ability to do work (Benschop, 1996).
Taylor's 4 Principles of Scientific Management:
Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
(NetMBA.com, 2002)
Managing groups
The Hawthorne effect
The Hawthorne effect was investigated during the industrial revolution. It was named after the number of famous experiments. It took place near Chicago in late 1920s and early 1930s. Elton Mayo was one of the supervisors of that experiment.
The aim was to evaluate if surrounding and people with whom employees work influence on their productivity as much as their innate abilities. Two groups of workers were used to investigate how physical conditions influence on them.
In the first day the lights in the premise of Group A were increased dramatically, while light conditions of other Group were left the same. Researches were surprised that Group A increased their productivity comparing to the control Group. Then there were different changes in working hours, in rest duration and in other factors influencing on working conditions of employees.
After the series of experiments when all conditions were returned to the way they were in the start the productivity rate was at its highest point and absenteeism had plummeted.
The result of the experiment was that no physical conditions in the workplace influence on employees. The fact that they knew that somebody is concerned about their working conditions led to the boost of productivity. (The Economist, 2008)
Group Development
Group development is a scientific approach to analyse the reasons of how and why small groups change over different periods of time. According to Wheelan (2005) group development can be defined as the maturation of a collection of individuals into an effective functioning group. Gilley (2010) defines a group as a collection of individuals who perform similar or complementary tasks as different individuals.
In order to study and understand why groups change over time Tuckman (1965) offers four linear stages:
1) Forming – the initial stage of an activity to be undertaken. Leaders play a vital role in this stage, as majority of group members are not familiar with the project/ work that will have to be carried out, and leadership is vital at this stage in order to make the project / work move forward.
2) Storming – after the initial stage is over, the different members of the group can have objections against their position or their duties on the work / project to be carried out. Low productivity is likely at this stage, as group members have limited knowledge about the possibilities of their colleagues
3) Norming – at this stage the members of the group have understood the capabilities and limitations of their colleagues and understand what can be expected from them, in terms of performance. The level of trust amongst colleagues improves. The productivity increases and the cooperation between members improve.
4) Performing – at this stage it is believed that the group has reached their optimal working capacity and team members have a set level of trust amongst each other’s, that allows the operation to function and any changes, such as increased workload are easily absorbed and dealt with in an efficient manner without major shocks to productivity.
Kozlowski, S.W.J. and Bell, B.S. (2012) ‘Work groups and teams in organizations’, Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition, (2). doi: 10.1002/9781118133880.hop212017 (Source webpage)
Wheelan, S. A. (2005). Group processes: A developmental perspective (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Gilley, A., & Kerno, S. J. (2010). Groups, teams, and communities of practice: A comparison. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12, 46–61. Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
Introduction
This wiki will explore what is meant by the term 'work' as a word that can be moulded to fit different scenarios for example work meaning productivity or a project scope. We will go on to outline the benefits of working as a group and identify, analyse and contrast this with working as a 'team'. One theory highlighted as highly applicable to this topic scope was that of Taylor's Scientific Management Theory we will outline and discuss his 4 principles for Scientific Management. The Hawthorne Effect being another highly valuable resources; identifying how the physical conditions of the workplace effected the two groups productivity. Finally, group development overtime is analysed; looking at how and why small groups advance over time, using Tuckman's (1965) 4 linear stages for understanding why this changes take place over time.
What is work?
The term 'work' can have many different definitions and can relate to many different things. Work can mean to be productive at something, it relates to be employed but can also relate to getting paid for doing something. The Business Dictionary (2016) defines work as "the entire scope of a project encompassing all people, equipment, material, and other goods and services required to fulfil the contractor's obligations under a contract" or simply " a job, something done to earn money".
Benefits of working as a group
Working in groups or as a team is a core management skill. Working with people that have the same interest and aiming for the same outcome has many different benefits. Those benefits include the building of trust amongst all group members, learning to deal with conflicts that arise while working as a group and it lets members build on the talents of their teammates. (Sandler Training, 2015)
Group vs team
A team is a group, but a group is not necessarily a team.
A group is a collection of multiple persons.
A team is a collective of multiple persons with a shared goal.
(What are groups and teams?, 2011)
Team work analysed
Generic typologies of team categories: (1) production, (2) service, (3) management, (4) project, (5) action and performing, and (6) advisory
Underlying dimensions of team categories: (1) work team differentiation, (2) external integration, (3) work cycles
Kozlowski et al (1999) focused on features to distinguish along a continuum—(1) task, (2) goals, (3) roles, (4) process emphasis, and (5) performance demands
Team composition is a factor in the effectiveness and efficiency of the performance of the group. The team composition factor comprises of: (1) team size, (2) demographic diversity, (3) personality and (4) cognitive ability.
(Kozlowski and Bell, 2012)
Taylor's Scientific Management theories
Taylor thought every employee/worker to be selfish ("economic animal") in the sense that he/she is always looking for the optimal balance between payment and effort/labour and with that maximising its income by reaching the limit of his/her physical ability to do work (Benschop, 1996).
Taylor's 4 Principles of Scientific Management:
(NetMBA.com, 2002)
Managing groups
The Hawthorne effect
The Hawthorne effect was investigated during the industrial revolution. It was named after the number of famous experiments. It took place near Chicago in late 1920s and early 1930s. Elton Mayo was one of the supervisors of that experiment.
The aim was to evaluate if surrounding and people with whom employees work influence on their productivity as much as their innate abilities. Two groups of workers were used to investigate how physical conditions influence on them.
In the first day the lights in the premise of Group A were increased dramatically, while light conditions of other Group were left the same. Researches were surprised that Group A increased their productivity comparing to the control Group. Then there were different changes in working hours, in rest duration and in other factors influencing on working conditions of employees.
After the series of experiments when all conditions were returned to the way they were in the start the productivity rate was at its highest point and absenteeism had plummeted.
The result of the experiment was that no physical conditions in the workplace influence on employees. The fact that they knew that somebody is concerned about their working conditions led to the boost of productivity. (The Economist, 2008)
Group Development
Group development is a scientific approach to analyse the reasons of how and why small groups change over different periods of time. According to Wheelan (2005) group development can be defined as the maturation of a collection of individuals into an effective functioning group. Gilley (2010) defines a group as a collection of individuals who perform similar or complementary tasks as different individuals.
In order to study and understand why groups change over time Tuckman (1965) offers four linear stages:
1) Forming – the initial stage of an activity to be undertaken. Leaders play a vital role in this stage, as majority of group members are not familiar with the project/ work that will have to be carried out, and leadership is vital at this stage in order to make the project / work move forward.
2) Storming – after the initial stage is over, the different members of the group can have objections against their position or their duties on the work / project to be carried out. Low productivity is likely at this stage, as group members have limited knowledge about the possibilities of their colleagues
3) Norming – at this stage the members of the group have understood the capabilities and limitations of their colleagues and understand what can be expected from them, in terms of performance. The level of trust amongst colleagues improves. The productivity increases and the cooperation between members improve.
4) Performing – at this stage it is believed that the group has reached their optimal working capacity and team members have a set level of trust amongst each other’s, that allows the operation to function and any changes, such as increased workload are easily absorbed and dealt with in an efficient manner without major shocks to productivity.
References
Business Dictionary (2016) Work. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/work.html. [Accessed 4 November 2016].
Sandler Training (2015) 6 Benefits of Teamwork in the Workplace. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.sandler.com/blog/6-benefits-of-teamwork-in-the-workplace. [Accessed 4 November 2016].
Kozlowski, S.W.J. and Bell, B.S. (2012) ‘Work groups and teams in organizations’, Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition, (2). doi: 10.1002/9781118133880.hop212017 (Source webpage)
What are groups and teams? (2011) Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html (Accessed: 7 November 2016).
The Economist (2008) The Hawthorne effect [Online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/12510632 [Accessed 7 November 2016].
Wheelan, S. A. (2005). Group processes: A developmental perspective (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Gilley, A., & Kerno, S. J. (2010). Groups, teams, and communities of practice: A comparison. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12, 46–61.
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
Benschop, A. (1996) Het scientific management van Frederick W. Taylor. Door: Albert Benschop . Available at: http://www.sociosite.net/labor/Taylor/Taylor.html (Accessed: 7 November 2016).
NetMBA.com (2002) Frederick Taylor & scientific management . Available at: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/ (Accessed: 7 November 2016).